Gender and governance; Project sites

October 2010

1. Country updates and inputs
The month of October was an overwhelmingly busy month for the Governance team as the country facilitators had to ensure that they completed all of their stage one to four activities of the Centres of Excellence (COE) process for each of their ten identified councils in the COE process; whilst also attending a Training of Trainers (TOT) scheduled from 19-25 September in Johannesburg. There is a lot of positive feedback from councils who are buying into the COE process as councils across the SADC region are now being capacitated by the country facilitators around gender action planning, understanding gender budgeting and many other empowering modules.

2. Country updates and inputs
Botswana:
KB and Roos have now also joined the COE process. They have identified seven councils that they will be working with this quarter (October-December) around the stage one (management and political team meetings) and stage two (situational analyses) activities. They will also be working with these councils on the GBV indicators project and the “I” Stories roll-out.

Lesotho:
Mpho has been very busy with her ten councils that were recently confirmed by key stakeholders in Lesotho. All of the stage one and two activities have been completed with the ten councils and as soon as the gender officers from the ten districts have been trained on the COE process, the stage three workshops will start. The MOU between GL and the Ministry of Gender, Youth and Social Welfare has also been signed, and this not only positively affirms the work that we do in Lesotho, but also opens up many possible doors for collaboration in Lesotho.

Inputs from Mpho:

Centres of Excellence for Gender Mainstreaming in Local Government, Lesotho

The Centres of Excellence for Gender Mainstreaming in Local Government initiative has well been embraced by the ten identified Community Councils as observed through the recently completed stages. Many local councillors have recognised the need to bring the gender agenda to the local level so as to help rectify myths and misconceptions that most communities abide by. With the support of the Principal District Gender Officers, substantive progress around the COE process is underway as there will be Gender Training of Trainers’ Workshop from 26-28 October 2010 ahead of the stage three and four. This training workshop will assist in enhancing knowledge and training skills of the Gender Officers on issues around gender and local government. Secondly, to engage and familiarise with the training materials beforehand as depicted per the COE stages. Lastly, to provide a common platform for peer learning where new and long-standing officers will be learning from one another.